Diadem and Daughter
by LiesMiranda
Summary: What happens when Rowena Ravenclaw pays more attention to her school than to her daughter? One-shot on the events leading up to the loss of the diadem.


_**AN: I wrote this about a year ago for a writing competition. I'm pretty much posting it on here to see how I'm going, and will possibly write more based on feedback. So please, rate and review! (:**_

* * *

><p><strong>Diadem and Daughter<strong>

Seated in the middle of the staff table, Rowena Ravenclaw smiled as dozens of dishes of food appeared on golden platters around the Great Hall. The Sorting had gone exceptionally well; she had chosen ten new Ravenclaws to join her students. Though they were terribly shy at the moment, she had discerned that, in time, they would be all that she prised in her students: wise, clever, witty, and not shy of a challenge. Over the next seven years, she would nurture their talents through her own teaching, until each and every one of them made her proud.

Sitting towards the end of the Ravenclaw table, Rowena's beautiful seventeen year old daughter Helena glowered at her. Rowena sighed. She had tried to appease her daughter by making her Head Girl, but it was to no avail. Helena remained tirelessly furious with her, and Rowena certainly wasn't in the wrong. She couldn't help that she had duties as a founder, and that she wasn't always able to put Helena first. It wasn't her fault that she was an extremely talented witch, said to be the best of her generation. Perhaps she had more ability than Helena, perhaps she didn't, and Helena just didn't apply herself at school. Rowena self-consciously touched the diadem perched elegantly on her long brown locks. The diadem enhanced your wisdom; it didn't give it to you. Her abilities were he own, and Helena had inherited them, she was just too hot-headed to realise it.

As the dessert course began, Rowena's eyes continued to roam the hall. Sitting at the Slytherin table, a dark, handsome boy watched her daughter. Baron Barvent. The young boy had experienced tragedy at an early age, with the death of his father at age fourteen. There was a rumour that he had a terribly hot temper, and countless stories to match. Nonetheless, he was in awe of Helena, and if Helena would stop using him to get what she wanted, Rowena was sure that she could be happy.

The clatter of knives and forks slowly diminished, and soon Godric Gryffindor stood up to announce the end of the feast. To his side, Salazar Slytherin had a set, stony face. Over the past months, the arguments the once best friends had been having had shaken the very castle. The atmosphere was tense, and she and Helga Hufflepuff were also having regular rows. The main subject between the two men had been whether to allow only students with the so-called purity of blood to attend the school. Rowena didn't see anything wrong with allowing those with no magical heritage to enter Hogwarts, but Slytherin had other ideas. In his opinion, "mudbloods", as he called them, had no right to learn magic, as it was not befitting to their birth.

The students rose to turn in to their dormitories, and Rowena saw Helena start to direct the first years to Ravenclaw Tower. Nodding a farewell to her fellow founders, Rowena followed her daughter, hoping to catch a word before retreating to her chamber for the night.

Rowena found Helena in a secluded corridor, where she was having a fierce argument with the Baron. Slipping behind a tapestry, Rowena positioned herself to listen. Eavesdropping was against her values, but as a mother, she wanted to know what her daughter was doing.

"I don't _want _your attention, how many times have I told you that?"

"Helena, you know I lo-"

"Don't say it!"

"I do! I can't help my feelings. I'm _happy _around you. Everywhere else, I'm just so _angry_, all the time! If you can make me feel this way, you must be right for me! Helena, please, can't you see-" The Baron's voice broke. His eyes – even though she couldn't see clearly, Rowena knew she'd never seen anyone look so sad. The ember of fury towards her daughter Rowena tried so hard to diminish became a roaring fire. How could Helena be so heartless? She was proud and vain, something she and her mother had alike, yet she was worse, a hundred times worse. It came from a life of jealousy.

"Leave me alone," Helena said; her voice dangerous, and as cold as ice. Her voice was low, if Rowena hadn't been straining to hear, she might have missed it. "I don't want to see you again. You may love me, if what you say is true, but I have no feelings in return. I leave you here."

Helena didn't go, merely stared at the Baron with such venom that he had no choice but to leave. From behind the tapestry, Rowena caught a glimpse of his face; a broken man.

A small smile of satisfaction appeared on Helena's face, though it disappeared instantly as her mother stepped from behind her hiding place. "You!" Helena exclaimed, with a voice so full of fury that Rowena almost took a step back, in spite of herself. However, she kept her wits about her, and returned her daughter's gaze.

"Yes, me," Rowena said calmly. What mother can't match her daughter's strength, when it is her it was inherited from? "And before you ask, I heard everything I needed to from that little exchange and I must say I have never been more disappointed in you."

"How dare you – eavesdropping – my privacy –!" Helena spluttered, clearly angry beyond words, not to mention taken aback. In her eyes, some sort of inner battle seemed to be taking place, until her face became stony and unreadable. "Well?" she prompted, taking the insolent teenager route.

"You come from the proud house of Ravenclaw," said Rowena, her voice as colder than her daughter's. "Those who are clever; intelligent. From what you have shown tonight, you would be more worthy placed in Slytherin. Though Salazar is noble, even he cannot deny that his students are sly, manipulative. I expected more of you, Helena."

"How could you expect anything of me?" replied Helena. "You do not know me well enough to have the least inkling of what I do, who I am. If you just took the time to leave your _precious_ teaching to get to know me, you might be surprised as to what you might find."

"Oh, I have no doubt that I would be surprised. You just treated the poor Baron like someone whose feelings can be bent to your own will. If this is how you treat your fellow students–" Rowena shook her head. She had expected so, so much more from her only child.

"If I do, it is only because of what I've come to expect, growing up at your hands," Helena spat. "When is the last time you have made a decision based on how I might feel?"

"I love you, Helena–"

"Love? Love isn't ignoring your only daughter. Love isn't placing more pride in that stupid diadem," Rowena's hand flew to her head, "than in me. Love isn't–"

"Enough!" shouted Rowena. In her anger, the diadem flew off her head, but she was so furious she didn't hear it clattering on the floor. "You will think over what you have said, and after breakfast tomorrow I expect a full apology, written or verbal. If not–"

"What?" Helena interjected. "You'll put me in detention? You disgust me."

Rowena shook; too full of rage to talk. She gave her daughter a look so icy that even Helena could not return, and so she just stood there, with an infuriatingly calm look on her face. Rowena turned, and swept away down the corridor in the direction of her chamber. Once reaching it, she lifted a hand to her head to put the diadem away, only to clutch on nothingness.

The diadem was gone.

In an instant, she knew exactly where the diadem was, and that it was already far too late to stop Helena from doing what she was bound to do. Rowena heaved a heavy sigh. It was likely she would never see her daughter again, and her mind was whirling, too full of thought to distinguish just one. However, she knew one thing for sure. She would never, ever, let the other founders know what had happened.


End file.
